Airbus
A-300
Europe's main manufacturers agreed about building a 300 seater widebody
airliner together. It first flew in 1972 and after a slow start, Airbus
built a whole family around this design, cargo versions were
manufactured til 2007.

Airbus
A-320 / 321
The A-320 was the first Airbus narrowbody, flying in 1987, and the first
true challenge to Boeing and MDD. Expanding this 160 seat
design into smaller and longer versions, Airbus covers half of the
important 100-200 seat market by the start of the 21st Century.

Airbus
A-330
In 1987, Airbus took the unusual step of announcing the joint launch of
twin- and four engined airliners based on the same
fuselage. The two engined A-330 has proven by now to be most successful of
the couple.

Antonov
72/74, 124/125, 148, 158
, the 124/225 is the largest aircraft now in service, the new An-140, an
ATR-styled commuter prop with its future uncertain due to some crashes, and
the An-148 is a new Regional Jet.

BAe-146
and Avro RJ
Initially developed by Hawker Siddely, the 146 was powered by four low powered
turbofans for operations to noise conscious areas and short runways. BAe
relaunched the Avro Regional Jetliner in 1992 which meant a small revival,
but production ceased in 2002.

BAe ATP
The ATP, first flight in 1986, was an advanced and stretched version of the
old HS-748, but it failed to gain comparible substantial orders. After
a struggling 10 years and 65 built, the unbuilt fuselages were sent to the
scrapheap.

BAC 1-11
/ Rombac 1-11
With a production of 244 frames, this was one of the most successful
British aircraft. If the energy put in Concorde was spent on stretched and
reengined versions, we might have still seen it everywhere
today.

DH-106
Comet / Nimrod
The Comet was the first jetliner to operate. The whole industry learned of
it's crashes. The later versions were technological fine but soon outdated.
The military Nimrod is based on the Comet but with newer engines.

HS-121
Trident
The Hawker Siddely Trident only had limited success, 117 aircraft
were sold, that was blamed to listen too closely to BEA (later BA) 's
specifications. The last Trident flight occured in 1997 in China.

BAC /
Vickers VC-10
Another British aircraft which was overshadowed by its US competitors like
the 707 and DC-8. Although withdrawn from passenger service in 1981, some
survive as tankers and VIP transporters with the RAF.

Beech
1900 and 2000 Starship
This Beech 1900 (19 seats) first flew in 1982 and remained longer in
production then its competitors, til 2003. The Starship was an innovative biz-plane but failed commercially has been pulled off the
market.

Boeing
717 ( MD-95)
MdDonnell Douglas prepared the MD-95 as DC-9 sized modern aircraft. After
Boeing took MDD over, the aircraft was remarketed as the 717 but failed to gain
more then 155 orders, production ceased in 2006.

Boeing
727 - 200
The longer 727-200 was the most successful variant and has played a major role
especially in US domestic aviation in the 1970s til 1990s. About a quarter
still survives mainly as cargo converted aircraft.

Boeing
737 100 and 200 series
Boeing announced the 737 in 1965 to get a hold on the regional jetliner market,
were McDonnell Douglas was successful with the DC-9. Sales were sluggish in
the first 10 years but by 1980 the 737-200 advanced was the
best selling aircraft. photo: C-FHJC
Canjet, YOW 24.06.04,
Micha
Lück

Boeing 737
300, 400 and 500 series
The engines of the 200-series were becoming outdated, though, and Boeing
first flew the re-engined and
stretched 300 in 1984. A bigger (400) and smaller (500) counterpart
followed soon. This generation outsold any competitor until the late 1990s.photo: HS-TDA 737-400 Nok Air, Udon Thani 23.09.04 Servaas Verbrugge

Boeing 737 NG
(600 to 900 and BBJ)
The Next Generation 737 was announced in 1993 and being built since 1997, it
remains head to head with the A-320 family. The total 737 family reached
the 6000 sold and 5000 built mark by early 2006.

Boeing 747
100 / 200 / 300
The Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet first flew in 1969. Its upperdeck was based on the
idea the aircraft could easily carry on as a freighter, when it would
became superfluous due to supersonic transports.

Boeing
747-400 and 800
The 747-400 variant was sold since 1988 but lately lost market share
against two engined widebodies. The new longer -800 was launched in 2005
but mainly attracts interest by cargo airlines.

Boeing 777
This biggest twin jetliner in service first flew in 1994. Together with the
200ER, the stretched 300 and the 300ER (in service since 2005), the 777 is
now the most popular big long range aircraft on the market. The 787 is also
selling very well, first flight expected mid 2009.

Canadair
CL-44, CL-415
The CL-44 was a derivative of the Brisol Briannia and has been in cargo
service til the end of the 20th century . The CL-415 is a turboprop
engined firefighter and still in production.

Canadair
Regional Jet / Bombardier CSeries
Canadair was already experienced with their Bizjets, a stretched version of the
Challenger was launched in 1991 aimed at the Regional market. While
production of the 50-seaters have stopped, the 70 to 90 passenger versions
still sell reasonably.

Casa /
Nurtanio 212, 235, 295
Spains Casa C-212 Aviocar has sold 430 units mainly to military operators.
;like Its follow up, the CN-235, the aircraft are licence-built by Nurtanio
in Indonesia as well. The larger C-295 is only built in Spain.

DHC-4
Cariboo, DHC-5 Buffalo and DHC-7The Buffalo was a turboprop engined follow up to the DHC-4 Cariboo military
transport aircraft. The DHC-7 was a STOL 50
seater, the final four engined propellor passenger plane ever. Both were
moderate succeses with production around 115.photo: OY-CBU DHC-7 Greenland Airways 04.11.05 Calgary, Bill Knight

DHC-8
100 / 200 / 300
The 2-engined commuter with versions of 37 or 50 seats proved to be a
successful commuter aircraft.
Launched in 1983, it is still being built by 2006.

photo: N835EX US Airways Express, New York LGA 01.01.05 Micha Lück

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DHC-8 / Dash
8-400
The stretched version of the DHC-8 for up to 76 seats is a slow but steady seller but can't manage to catch up with the fenomenal sale of the ATR. It's now the only version of the '8 still in production.

Douglas DC-1, DC-2, DC-3 Dakota, C-117, Li-2
The DC-3 is the most important airliner ever built. With a production of almost 12.000 aircraft plus more in Russia, more then 100 are still airworthy even almost 80 years after its first flight.

McDonnell
Douglas DC-10
The Douglas DC-10 first flew in 1970. Hampered with some early design flaws
and lots of bad publicity because of some crashes, the DC-10 turned out to
be the better seller compared to Lockheeds rival.

Dornier 228
Dornier launched its 19 seater in the early 80s. It had modest success both
with airlines and airforces. Production in Germany came to a standstill
with 247 frames but continues in licence in India.

photo: D-ILWB LGW, Dusseldorf 31.07.04 Aart Langevoort

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Dornier 328
prop and Jet
The development of the Fairchild-Dornier Do-328 turboprop commuter plane started in 1988. The roll
out was in 1991 and the plane was developed for 30-40 passengers. With the
bankruptcy of Dornier, production came to a halt

photo: G-BWWT Scot Airways, Amsterdam 11.06.04 Aart Langevoort

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Eclipse Aviation 500 VLJ
The small and light Eclipse bizjet project collapsed during the 2008 crisis. Still already about 270 were built in less then three preceding years.

Embraer 110
Bandeirante
Embraer had international success with it's 19 seater commuter Bandeirante,
which first flew in 1968 and remained in production till 1990. It was the
main competitor against the DHC-6 and Metro.

Embraer 145
As a response to the popular Canadair Regional Jet, Embraer launched a stretched
jet-version of the Emb-120 turboprop. After a difficult designing stage;
the wing mounted engines didn't work out, it became a success. photo: N258JO E-145 US Airways Express, Greensboro 18.12.03, Micha
Lück

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Embraer 170 ,
190
After interest in 40-50 seater jets faded somewhat, Embraer became the
leading small commercial jet manufacturer with a good selling 70 to 120 seat family with wing
mounted engines.

Fokker F-27
Friendship
The F-27 Friendship first flew in 1955. It immediately attracted attention
by airlines and airforces worldwide. Maybe the F-27 family was the closest
thing to the ideal replacement of
the DC-3.

photo: G-CEXA Channel Expr, Bournemouth 16.03.02, Servaas
Verbrugge

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Fokker F-28
Fellowship
The Dutch manufacturer decided to build the 65 pax twinjet F-28 Fellowship
(later stretched to 85 pax) in the mid sixties. It had an appeal in
underdeveloped countries with its rugged structure.

photo: ZS-XGX AirQuarias/SAA, Capetown 19.02.04, Servaas Verbrugge

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Fokker 50
Fokker built the Fokker 50 as re-engined follow up of the successful F-27
Friendship. After a reasonable orderbook
start right after 1986, sales lagged behind the ATR-42 and DASH-8.

photo: SE-LIP Skyways, Copenhagen 08.04.04, Aart Langevoort

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Fokker 70/100
The Fokker 100, an up-to date re-engined development of the Fokker F-28 Fellowship, made it's first flight in
1986. The shorter F-70 became a success but couldn't save Fokker from
bankruptcy.

photo: D-AGPK Air Berlin, Düsseldorf 31.07.04 Aart Langevoort

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Fokker
/ VFW-614
The first regional jet, 44 seats, perhaps came 25 years too early. Only a
handful were sold, and it was a reason why the cooperation between Fokker
and VFW (West Germany) failed.

photo: D-BABC, VFW proto/demo, Düsseldorf 02.02.74, Werner Fischdick

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GAF Nomad
The sole Australian airliner, with max. seatcapacity of 19 passengers, had
a modest success with about 170 built.

Gulfstream I
/ G-159 and Grumman G73 Mallard
The G-159, fitted with two Dart turboprops, was aimed at the business
market but has also seen some airliner service. Some of the 200 built are
still in service.

Handley Page
Herald
The Herald first flew as four engined piston aircraft. The production
version resembled the F-27 but lacked the succes of the competion, only 50
were built in the late 1950s and 60s. None are now flying.

IAI Westwind
/ Galaxy / Gulfstream 100-200
The IAI Jet series consist of a line of mid sized business jets. IAI and
Galaxy were taken over by Gulfstream Aerospace around 2000. elegant
aircraft was revolutionary and a first in many aspects.

Ilyushin 62, 86, 96, 114
The first long range jet of the Soviet Union with the same performance as
the DC-8/707s was surprisingly similar as the British VC-10. The jumbo
Il-86 and 96 haven't gained the same popularity.

Lockheed
L-188 Electra
The Electra, even while only 170 were built, still flies cargo 45 years
later. The military P-3 version is built in much greater numbers til as
late as 2000, it is not featured on this site, but see the link.

NAMC YS-11
The only Japanese airliner was the YS-11, a sturdy design with a good
safety record. While production ceased in 1974 with only 182 built, it
remains in small scale service in mainly Japan and the Philippines.

Piaggio P.180 Avanti
The Piaggio Avanti is an Italian twin turboprop for nine passengers. The unusual design places the wing behind and above the canard-like horizontal stabilizers and the engines in a pusher configuration.

Pilatus PC-12
The Pilatus PC-12 is a single-engine turboprop passenger and cargo aircraft
manufactured by Pilatus aircraft of Switzerland . The main market for
the aircraft is corporate transport and regional airliner operators. See right for PC-6 website.

Raytheon 390
premier / Hawker / HS-125
The HS-125 started out as De Havilland design. Raytheon purchased the BAe
Business Jets division in 1993, the model 390 Premier is the first product
of the Raytheon/Hawker combine.

Saab 2000
The later Saab 2000 (45 seats) proved to be expensive to buy and operate.
Its role was already to be taken over by the more popular regional jets.
Saab stopped building the 340 and 2000 in 1999.

Shorts Belfast, Skyvan, Sh-330
For decades, the Northern -Irish airplane-builder Short made ruggish but
reliable propellor-aircraft. Of the unique Belfast, a bigger brother of the
Hercules, only 10 were built.

Shorts 360
Production of the 330 and 360 ceased in 1991, when Short decided to
concentrate on airplane- components for other manufacturers. This boxy
aircraft still flies cargo and passengers here and there.

Tupolev 134
and 144
The Soviet's answer to the early short-haul jets DC-9, BAC 1-11 and
Caravelle was the Tupolev 134. It flew in 1963 and was extensively used in the USSR and exported to Eastern
European countries.

Tupolev 154,
204, 214, 334
Tupolev designed a lot of other aircraft of which only a few are built (till now). Featured too in
the data are the Tu-144 "Concordski", the 757-copy Tu-204, which
is meant to replace the 154, the shorter 214 and 100 seat 234.

Yakovlev Yak-42
The Yak-42 was a 120 seat aircraft designed in the late 70s and meant to
replace Tu-134s and Il-18s in service with Aeroflot. An early accident
lowered the pace of introduction and less than
200 were built.

Yunshui /
Harbin / Hafei Yun-12 and Y-7/MA-60
The Y-12 is the first full Chinese designed airliner which is built in fair
numbers and exported. An estimated 150 are built so far of this 17 seater. The MA-60 is developed
out of the An-24 and Y-7.